The Next New Thing

It’s complicated to think of one particular thing because in the blink of an eye something new is already out there. I think robots could be the next new thing that will definitely utilize new media technologies in order to carry out a particular function. Robots have already been out there for a while but as time goes by they are coming more closer to play a role in real live. There are several pros and cons about robots, perhaps the major concern is that robots are replacing human labor because they have the ability to do certain tasks faster than human beings. However, humans do play an important role which is to control the proper functioning of robots.

P2P File Sharing

File sharing is the ability people have to share files and data with others through network sites and computer programs. Files are usually found in the internet available for uploading and for two types of downloading illegal and legal. File sharing allows not only one but multiple users to access a particular file at the same time. There are different forms of file sharing such as P2P (peer to peer) sharing, the most common one.

P2P file sharing consist of computer networks connected to each other via internet connection and unlike other forms, P2P does not require a central server in order for users to be able to share files between a P2p network. On this network peers have access to files on another computer and they decide which folders from their own computers to share with the other peers that have joined the P2P network. The article Online Piracy and the Emergence of New Business Models states that “the 19-year-old college student Shawn Fanning became a pioneer in the P2P file sharing technology when he released the original Napster, a software program he had developed in his dorm room.” This was a great success and “hordes of college students praised Napster because it enabled them to obtain hit songs without having to buy an entire album.” Other examples of P2P file sharing include  music sharing programs like Limewire and Kanzaa which are no longer available for use due to illegal downloading of files.

Privacy and Confidentiality

New Media is constantly changing thus issues regarding privacy and confidentiality keep arising as well. All new media technologies out there provide some sort of privacy through settings that are managed by users at all times. However, not every user understands the terms the same way as others do so that leads to misunderstandings and improper use. Information shared through new media technologies can be easily stolen by others without any approval which in the long run spreads all over and can turn into a legal problem. New Media technologies like social netoworking sites and others are not considered a safe environment and users need to cautious when using these sources. This issues may be getting out of hands but it takes a lot of hard work and comminment  from both the service provider and the user to build a strong barrier that will prevent privacy and confidentiality problems from happenning.

My Avatar

I had no clue how to start creating an avatar in second life but somehow I got this. Virtual Worlds are like magic and with all the tools available we can create anything. I had so much fun doing this project because I was able to play around making different appearances for myself and without having to experience it in real life. At leas now I know what I would look like in a race car outfit. 🙂

Creativity

Creativity certainly plays an important role in New Media, since it is constantly changing due to technology and the release of new products or services. Social Networking Sites is a clear example of how New Media fosters creativity. Founders of networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and other popular sites use their creativity when creating the program and making it available to the public but the job becomes harder when it comes to satisfying the different needs and interests of million of users, and here is where the creativity of users comes into play. According to the article Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers “consumers often come up with ideas for products” and so another source of new media as it is “the internet lets people exchange ideas easily and rapidly with large groups, and computing tools let people design new products cheaply.” Only ourselves know best what we would like to be changed on products or services we used, and often when we are not happy we try to customize it our own way. So as “Ford has invited university students to come up with new features for the in-car system,” other companies should follow this action as well because it shows the interest of the company on finding out the features that suits the customer’s expectations the best.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds blends together creativity with reality in a digital manner, through which a message or idea is delivered to an audience. Creators of Virtual Worlds play around with different tools to make up a character called avatars that will portray an image about situations people face it everyday lives.

Virtual Worlds can help people improve their communication skills mainly those with special needs. The creation of a virtual resource center for people with autism by David Savill has revealed the positive impacts about virtual worlds. For instance, researchers found that “visitors can practice social interaction and find information about the condition,” while people with autism benefit the most from this social interaction because they “get familiar with an environment before they actually try it out in real life.”

Many factors seem to influence the demand of Virtual Worlds in different fields. The article Going to the virtual office in Second Life stated that Virtual worlds like Second Life are currently being used in many large companies seeking to accomplish the purpose of “bringing employees together for conference and meeting remotely directly for their own computer networks”, while decreasing the cost of unnecessary expenses and saving time on certain tasks. Working with Virtual Worlds involves collaboration and sharing of  ideas and opinions from a group of people towards a particular project. However, in case Virtual Worlds are being used improperly negative consequences may arise in the long run thus affecting both companies and employees. A serious issue is that “virtual teams can’t take advantage of the kind of impromptu “water cooler” conversation that occur in a real workplace” and “the lack of human contact that leads to feelings of isolation.” The worst side effect of Virtual Worlds is that people can become obsessed to the use it thus losing the value of face to face communication.

The idea of virtual worlds relies mainly on creativity and imagination in order to entertain the audience or get a particular point across. Through virtual worlds, people are able to share their ideas with others directly from their own networks and work collaboratively as a team. The avatars created in a virtual world represent human beings as if it was in real life but in fact are only creative characters with altered appearance. As time goes by, Virtual Worlds will definitely continue to develop and keep getting better.

Social Networking Sites

Everyone is on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or Hi5 and these are only few of the many Social Networking sites out there that share in common the same purpose which is to help people to stay in touch with family and friends at all times. Even though these social networking sites work in similar ways, many of us have not only one but two or more accounts because some sites have certain features that makes it different or perhaps better from other sites.

Facebook is pretty easy to use and people are able to do different activities like: to join networks, organize their friends by groups, share photos, videos and links, as well as instant messaging and video chat with friends. These are basic things that other networking sites offer as well. However, Facebook makes possible for people to reunite with old friends and classmates while hundred of miles away, and this is what people love about Facebook and due to this it has become the most popular networking site.On the other hand, the abandoned site called Myspace is no longer as popular ever since Facebook came to play. But what people liked most about Myspace was the customization of profiles their own unique way, which in some case symbolized certain characteristics about the user’s personality and interests. Unfortunately, people’s creativity cannot be shown on Facebook neither can they add music to their profiles as they otherwise would on Myspace. Another site, Twitter is growing rapidly thus reaching the high popularity rates as Facebook. This site offers more simple services starting by the limit of characters 140 per tweet compare to other sites that allow people to write as much as they want to. Twitter users can follow other member’s feeds and stop following them whenever they feel like it, as well as invite others to received their tweets and build network of contacts. There are other sites that are not as popular in certain places as they are in others. For instance, Hi5 is not commonly used in the United States as it is in other countries. Hi5 as well the other sites share similarities, but people have joined to Hi5 because the sign up process is very short and easy compare to other site, and the ability of joining online communities. From the same account users can access to other pages link to Hi5 without having to create a second account, and grab some important concepts based on the topic interested in.

Regardless of all the similarities and differences among all these networking sites is complicated for users which networking site is the best but sure anything can be accomplish using the right social networking site.

Social Networking

No doubt! Social Networking sites have definetely changed our lives such as individuals and society as a whole in positive and negative ways. The main reason for the existence of these sites today, is because people are able to stay in touch with their family and friends while they are hundreds of miles away.

One of the most popular network sites is Myspace, but was lately replaced by Facebook and they both provide the same benefits to their users. For instance, as mentioned in the article Is MySpace Good for Society? A Freakonomics Qourum “the pluses include easier contacts with friends, and increased chances to make new friends and create a community, as well as find romantic relationships. Even the advertising may be a plus, because it is targeted to the particular interests of the user.” In addition, on these sites users are able to upload photos, videos and links to share random ideas with their friends by simply updating their statuses on what they up to at all times. Keep in mind that users have control over the privacy of their profiles and only they can decide wether to make their profile public or private and which information to share with others and which not.

Social Networking Sites have become a very useful tool to businesses regardless of their expertise, mainly when it comes down to certain tasks like hiring new employees, promoting sales or even get feedback on their products and service provided to customers. As the tittle itself says Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting. Businesses are able to find very qualified individuals who meet a certain criteria required for a particular job simply by looking up their profile where they have access to relevant information such as personal and professional.

Despite of all the advantages, the appearance of social networking sites may be deceiving. According to Judith Donath the dark side hidden behind the bright side of these network sites relies on the fact “they devalue the meaning of “friend.” Our traditional notion of friendship embraces trust, support, compatible values, etc. On social network sites, a “friend” may simply be someone on whose link you have clicked.” It’s been proven that each day people go on their sites for long hours simply to try to increase their number of friends and seeking to get a sense of acceptance among others. This is more like a competition looking for which has the most, but in fact this might be a sign of isolation between individuals. However, it’s up to each individual to make the best use of social networking sites.

Social Networking is like a chain of events that continuously change over time. At first when any network site is created people find it entertaining to have but later on when it gets boring and loses popularity; they are replaced by other sites with better features. Since social network sites are part of new media they lose value rapidly as time goes by, and what is new today will become old tomorrow or the day after.

Blogs vs. Wikis

Blogs and Wikis have become an useful source of communication such as for individuals and businesses as well. Each day blogs and wikis are being used for all sort of purposes but in different ways.

A Blog is commonly defined as a website but  in form of online journals or diary where people share their thoughs, opinions or  ideas on a particular topic with the public. These posts are listed in “reverse chronological order” which are updated on a regular basis and readers are allow to leave comments in response to any post they might be insterested in. At times these posts might lead to interesting conversations with others. From the article How can we measure the influence of the blogsphere? other primarry characteristics of blogs include”

• Links to related news articles, documents, blog
• entries within each entry (attribution)
• Archived entries (old content remains accessible)
• Links to related blogs (blogrolling)
• RSS or XML feed (ease of syndication), Passion (voice)

 In addition, blogs have the ability to stimulate reader’s collaboration to a certain issue. People create different posts every time about areas of their expertise in order to grab the reader’s attention thus inviting them to express their point of view in return. This collaborative work is presented on the article “Pentagon Keeps Wary Watch as Troops Blog.”

On the contratry, one of the best examples of a wiki is Wikipedia a web page unlike blogs; it can be easily modified by multiple users. Wikis are always open to public and its content is subject to change antytime by simply having acces to internet and clicking on the “Edit” and “Save” links.  This feature makes Wiki an online collaborative and communicative  project that consist of different editors and contributors working together for the same purpose. In addition “wikis don’t require a lot of personnel to support them and many of the tools are free” More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia. For instance, users are free to add photos, videos, and web links that enables the reader to browse other websites. Wikis are a great tool for group school projects where each member collaborates in one way or another without the need of metting face to face.

Project Description – Positive and Negative Effects of Social Networking

On my research paper I will be talking about Social Network which has taken over the old media world, but since it is a broad topic I’ll focus mainly on the positive and negative effects of Social Networking on our lives. People around the world use social networking sites for different reasons which vary from good to bad. The most common reason is to stay in touch with our family and friends but not everyone uses for the same reason so the dark side comes out thus resulting in negative outcomes at times. This issue is basically a matter of knowing how to use Social Networking sites wisely without expecting to cause harm to other or ourselves. In some cases people rely too much on the security settings of social network sites they don’t realize how much personal information they are putting out available for the public. There are different perspectives to look at Social Networking but from my point of view I will analyze the negative and positive effects and support each of them with facts and statistics if possible. My debate on this paper is not about whether Social Networking is bad or good but rather we are using it right or wrong. As the writer I expect my readers to learn from paper unknown information to them about New Media and Social Networking.

To be continued …